The tower controller was good the radar could have left him alone though.
It was similar to what I had with my gear issue. Until we had managed to semi fix it we didn't have a clue what was wrong either. It could have been hydralics, turned out to be a gen failure with a bus tie that refused to reset.
The radar controller kept on asking even after being told to standby so I ignored him.
I was told afterwards "but we need to know", apparently the fact it detracts from flying the machine, breaks up your flow in checklists, diverts your attention away from maintaining a safe flight profile and breaks your concentration away from a sick machine isn't a valid excuse. Yes give us headings etc to keep us away from hitting the ground and other aircraft but reason and other such stuff as POB can wait.
Unfortuantely I have never managed to get to a TRUCE but the pilots I know that have been on one say that this sort of thing gets quite interesting on the debrief.
ATC are trained that we will answer their questions about reasons and POB etc. Pilots are trained to fly the machine and ignore none safety RT traffic.
You would have thought by now that NATS would have got together with BA and got some sim footage about whats going on in a GA and other standard and none standard procedures.
To add though this was PIA and I think 2007 was when they were having quite nasty tech issues with things falling off aircraft and gear bursting into flames after landing. Also culture comes into it as well with some cultures not wanting to tell anyone when they have a serious problem if not forced to.